The Risen Christ Is Still at Work — Through You

Watch the service and sermon from Acts 9:32–35: “How the Risen Christ Ministers through His Church, Part 1.” Be encouraged to see how Jesus still ministers through faithful servants, works by His power, and draws people to Himself for His glory.

There is a moment in the ninth chapter of Acts that deserves far more attention than it typically receives. It is not a dramatic courtroom scene. It is not a thunderclap conversion on a dusty road. It is a quiet, almost understated encounter between a traveling servant of God and a man who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years. And yet, what unfolds in that moment carries a truth so profound that it has the power to reshape the way we understand our own lives as followers of Christ.

The truth is this: the risen Jesus Christ is not a historical figure who accomplished his work and then stepped back from the stage of human history. He is actively, presently, powerfully at work — and he has chosen to work through his church. Through ordinary, willing, faith-filled people. Through you.

When we find Peter in Acts 9:32-35, he is traveling. He is not waiting for needs to come to him. He is moving, looking, engaging. He arrives in Lydda, a city about twenty-five miles northwest of Jerusalem, to visit a community of believers — people the text calls saints.

That word is worth pausing on. Saints. It is not a title reserved for a spiritual elite. It does not require perfection or a lifetime of religious achievement. According to scripture, every person who has placed their faith in Jesus Christ is a saint — someone set apart by God, for God, for God's purposes. The moment you believed, your identity changed. You are no longer simply a citizen of this world. You are consecrated. You belong to Christ.

And Peter, understanding the weight of that identity, travels to care for these people. He does not wait for them to come to him. He goes to them. That is the heart of a true shepherd — not passive, not self-focused, but actively seeking the well-being of others. It is a posture that every follower of Christ is called to adopt.

The question worth sitting with is this: Are you moving? Are you looking for where God is at work so that you can join him there? The people God tends to use most are not necessarily the most gifted or the most experienced. They are the ones who are engaged, available, and willing.

In Lydda, Peter encounters a man named Aeneas. The details Luke provides are sparse but striking. Aeneas is paralyzed. He has been bedridden for eight years. There is nothing in this man's situation that suggests hope from a human standpoint. He is beyond what medicine could fix, beyond what friends could solve, beyond what willpower could overcome.

And that is precisely the point.

There are people in our lives — and perhaps seasons in our own lives — where the need is simply beyond human reach. Where the brokenness runs too deep, the suffering stretches too long, the paralysis is too complete for any earthly remedy to touch it. These are not moments to despair. They are moments to remember who holds the power.

Peter does not hesitate. He does not attempt to manufacture a solution from his own resources. He speaks with clarity and conviction: "Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed."

Notice what Peter does not say. He does not say, "I heal you." He does not draw attention to himself, his authority, or his spiritual resume. He immediately, instinctively, points every ounce of attention toward Jesus Christ. The healing belongs to Christ. The power belongs to Christ. The glory belongs to Christ.

And immediately, Aeneas got up.

This moment carries a lesson that cuts straight to the heart of Christian ministry and Christian living. The temptation, when we serve others or accomplish something meaningful in God's name, is to quietly take some of the credit. To let a little of the glory settle on us. To build a following around our own personality, our own methods, our own brand.

But Peter's response models something different entirely. He decreases so that Christ may increase. He understood that spiritual work accomplished by human power is not spiritual work at all. It is just human activity dressed in religious clothing.

The only power capable of producing genuine, lasting, eternal fruit is the power of Jesus Christ. When we serve, we serve by his strength. When we share the gospel, it is his word that does the work. When lives are changed, it is his grace that changes them. Our role is to be faithful, available, and honest enough to say — as Peter did — that Jesus is the one at work here, not us.

This is not false humility. It is simply the truth. And it is a truth that sets ministry free from the crushing weight of self-promotion and the exhausting performance of trying to do God's work in human strength.

What happens next in the text is remarkable. It says that all who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw Aeneas — the man they had known as paralyzed and helpless — now standing, walking, restored. And they turned to the Lord.

One life. One miracle. One faithful servant willing to travel and serve and point to Jesus. And an entire region responds.

This is the pattern of God's mission. He does not require grand strategies or massive platforms. He requires willing people who will go where he leads, serve in his power, and consistently make it about Jesus. When that happens, when Christ is genuinely exalted and his name is faithfully proclaimed, people turn to him.

That is the goal. Not building a crowd around a personality. Not gathering admirers of a ministry. But turning people to the Lord — to the one who holds the future, who conquered the grave, who reigns as Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

The risen Christ is still at work. The question is simply whether we are willing to be the ones he works through.

Through this message, God reminds us that the risen Christ is still at work through His church, ministering through willing servants by His power to draw people to Himself—so how should we make ourselves available to serve Him and point others to the Lord?

1. he pastor said, "The moment a servant begins to think he can do spiritual work in his own power is the moment he stops trusting on the only power that can do the work." Have you ever experienced a moment in ministry or service where you were relying on your own strength rather than God's? What happened, and what did you learn?
2. Peter had a shepherd's heart. He did not wait for people to come to him. He went to them. Who in your life might God be calling you to go to, rather than waiting for them to come to you?
3. The pastor drew a distinction between gathering followers around a person versus turning people to Christ. In what ways can we evaluate whether our ministry, conversations, or even our social media presence is pointing people to Jesus or to ourselves?
4. The pastor asked several pointed questions near the end of the sermon. Take time to meditate on these questions:
   1. Is Jesus the Lord of your life?
   2. Are you submitting to His authority?
   3. Are you living for the One you call Lord?

What does honest, practical submission to Christ as Lord look like in your daily routine?